- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Christina EA Hecht
The Center for Science in Public Interest (CSPI) is hosting a virtual 2023 Sugar Reduction Summit to convene researchers, advocates, and stakeholders working in the field of sugar and sugary drink reduction on April 25-27, 2023, from 10:00 a.m.-2:15 p.m. PDT. The program includes four plenary sessions and twenty workshop sessions on sugary drink reduction science, communications, and policies, each led by experts in the field. One of the invited experts leading a workshop is Christina Hecht, senior policy advisor with the Nutrition Policy Institute. Hecht organized and will moderate the session: “Water: Making it Real” on Wednesday April 26, 2023 at 1:10 p.m. PDT. Hecht is an active voice in supporting equitable access to safe and clean drinking water. She is a co-founder of the UC Research Consortium on Beverages and Health, a group of faculty from every UC campus who work to reduce consumption of sugary drinks and replace them with water. She belongs to the National Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Reduction Workgroup, where she uses research to propose policy recommendations to reduce intake of sugary drinks. Hecht works with colleagues at NPI and nationally to advance research in drinking water access and to advocate for healthier beverage choices; she also coordinates the National Drinking Water Alliance. Hecht will speak about the essentials to enable consumption of water and panellists will describe current community efforts to enable drinking water in Navajo Nation, New Orleans, Nevada and Philadelphia. Registration for the 2023 Sugar Reduction Summit is free of charge. The agenda for the event can be found on the Center for Science in Public Interest website.
- Author: Katherine Lanca
- Editor: Danielle L. Lee
- Editor: Christina EA Hecht
The National Water Quality Monitoring Council is hosting a conference to call attention to monitoring water quality/quantity, public health, and ecological health in all water resources. The 13th National Monitoring Conference will be held from April 24-28, 2023 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with a limited virtual format. Christina Hecht, senior policy advisor at the Nutrition Policy Institute and coordinator of the National Drinking Water Alliance, is an invited panelist for the session “Lead Testing in Schools and Daycares: California's Case Example,” on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 from 10:30 a.m.-noon PDT. She will share her research experience and answer questions about school drinking water lead testing programs, policy and results in California and nationally. Prospective attendees may register and view the conference program agenda on the North American Lake Management Society website.
The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program provides reimbursements for nutritious meals and snacks to children enrolled in participating child care sites. Christina Hecht, senior policy advisor for the Nutrition Policy Institute and coordinator of the National Drinking Water Alliance, presented on the importance of the CACFP drinking water requirements and best practices for offering clean and safe drinking water in child care in an interactive session at the thirty-seventh National Child Nutrition Conference in San Diego, CA. Hecht presented her session, titled “A Fresh Take on Water in CACFP” on April 11, 2023.
The National Drinking Water Alliance, coordinated by the Nutrition Policy Institute, has summarized its progress in the drinking water space from 2021 and 2022. The summary includes policy highlights such as providing drinking water safety recommendations to the White House and the allocation of $55 billion for water in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. NDWA also advocated for actions for robust implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act provisions that mandate safe drinking water access in schools and childcare facilities and commented on proposed revisions to the Environmental Protection Agency's Lead and Copper Rule with recommendations from the latest science on tap-water lead testing. NDWA members developed resources including Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption and Reduce Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: A Community Roadmap for Native communities. The NDWA is a network of organizations and individuals working to ensure that all children in the US can drink safe water in the places where they live, learn and play.
Researchers conducted a small community-based participatory research pilot of a drinking water intervention in the Navajo Nation and found that caregivers' reported knowledge of Diné (Navajo) traditions about water doubled and that the influence of Diné traditions on beverages they offered their children more than doubled. A Community Advisory Group met monthly to develop a curriculum for preschoolers and their caregivers that responded to caregiver knowledge gaps and centered Navajo language and traditions. Four monthly lessons were delivered by Early Childhood Education teachers through remote learning using multimedia materials to 21 households with children ages 2-5 enrolled in four Navajo Nation preschools. A majority (86%) of participating households had tap water at home, but only 38% stated they trusted their tap water's safety. While not statistically significant, children's average daily water consumption increased by 16% while consumption of sugary drinks decreased by 21%, with a reduction in energy intake from sugary drinks of 26 calories per day. The study was led by Brigham and Women's Hospital in partnership with Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment (COPE) of Navajo Nation and the Nutrition Policy Institute, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources. The study was funded by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (grant no. 77234). To learn more, read the research brief, “Water is K'é: A Community-Based Intervention to Increase Healthy Beverage Consumption by Navajo Preschool Children.”